The Ring Hunt
by Feilyn
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia are in a bit of a bind. He won't give her the ring until she says yes. She won't say yes until he gives her the ring. So. Stalemate. Or is it? Part of the Lost And Found series, although the only thing lost here is the ring.


_I am in so much pain right now._

_My laptop crashed. I was berefit for over a week, and although a family friend has lent me his old one, it turns out that whatever the problem with my laptop is, my files with in all likelihood be wiped. Thankfully I backed them up about a month ago, but it turns out that I can do a shit__-load of writing in a month. I think altogether I'll lose about twelve thousand words._

_But anyway! After much begging on the part of _cricketchick1990_, I have decided to write an IchiRuki for the Lost and Found series._

_This story starts almost immediately after the end of The Stage. If you have never read The Stage (for shame! Lol) this will probably make little sense, but if you're like me you'll probably read it anyway._

_So! Hello to all and welcome to the next installment of the Lost And Found series! Just a reminder in case it skipped your head, a 513 form is a Division's sake budget and a 513B is the amount of money Shunsui owes a Division for using their sake budget._

_**This is actually an important part of the series.**__ Think of it as a bridge, joining the first half of L&F to the second. Chiaki's one-shot, I think, will be the link to the third._

_Stef, this is for you ; )_

xXx

Rukia waited until she was in the safety of their bedroom to collapse.

Oh, there was no screaming or tears – that wasn't her style. She simply let the energy run out of her bones, sagging onto the bed.

"Shit," she muttered, hand over her eyes.

"That bad?"

She peeked through a gap in her fingers. Ichigo was there, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over a bare chest. She would have taken the time to ogle a little if she hadn't been so utterly drained.

"Worse." The word came out a little strangled, but considering the day's events she figured the Kuchiki honour could stand it. "We were lucky enough to have Nanao and Momo with us to bolster Isane, otherwise we would have lost one of them."

The image flashed into her head, the one she'd been trying to get rid of since the moment she saw it. Rangiku – strong, capable Matsumoto Rangiku – sobbing incoherently, near unconscious herself as Byakuya slumped sideways. Dying.

"Don't do that," Ichigo said suddenly, pushing himself off the doorframe.

She glared at him, removing her hands from her face and sitting up a little so he could feel its full force. "Don't do what?"

Her lover raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You're feeling guilty."

"Oh, shut up," she groaned, flopping back. "It's not like you haven't done the same thing again and again and again. Let me wallow."

"I thought Kuchiki's didn't wallow."

"Well, I'm not exactly proud to be a Kuchiki at the moment."

The bed dipped slightly as he dropped onto it. "It's not like you haven't dragged me out of those moods – again and again and again." He placed a kiss on her forehead that she sullenly wiped away. "Let me return the favour."

"When have I ever listened to what you say?" she retorted. Nonetheless, she was touched at his efforts. She'd kill him before she told him, but he probably knew anyway.

Bastard.

He smirked, and the next thing she knew she was pinned beneath a very smug, very _shirtless_ Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Who said I was going to say anything?" he whispered, a husky note to his voice.

Things were looking up.

"This is your solution?" She tilted her head to the side to allow him better access to her neck so he could trail kisses down it.

"Are you complaining?"

There was some niggling thought in the back of her mind as she dragged his head up, demanding a proper kiss. Something important, she was sure, but if it wasn't going to make itself known, she most certainly wasn't going to interrupt that hand slowly drawing up her thigh to force it to come to mind.

"Feeling better?" he whispered, lips moving against her stomach.

Rukia arched up. "Stop talking so much and I'm sure I'll feel fantastic."

She felt the answering quirk of his lips against the tightening skin over her abdomen. Of course it was just as things were about to get interesting that she remembered.

"You!" she yelled, jerking up to a sitting position.

Ichigo cried out as her foot nailed him in the face. "What the hell?"

She leapt off the bed and scrabbled around for her uniform. Once that was sorted, she proceeded to tear the room apart, not caring in the slightest for Ichigo's confusion. She was a woman on a mission and nothing was going to get in her way.

Except perhaps for those arms suddenly clamped around her waist, pinning her own to her side.

"You're not going to find it."

"Let me go."

"If I let you go, you'll hit me."

"I won't."

"You suck at lying. Don't try."

She scowled, shifting experimentally against his hold. The scowl slid into a smirk as she felt the result of her sudden abandonment.

"Left you high and dry there, did I?" she murmured.

He growled. "I don't know why I put up with you."

"Put up with me? I'm the one who puts up with you!" she exclaimed.

Rukia _felt_ him rolling his eyes.

"What sort of woman won't even let a man propose?" he grumbled.

She lifted her feet off the ground and cursed when he didn't even grunt at the extra weight. Of course, she could have been an elephant and not gotten a sound out of him.

"The sort of woman who's going to say yes," she ground out, struggling against his iron grip.

The words hit them at the same time. Her struggles stopped and she _felt_ the grin in his voice as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"So that was a yes?"

"Give me the ring!"

"Was that a yes?"

She stamped her foot down hard on his and ripped away from his loosened hold with a cry of triumph.

"Hah!"

"Bitch!" he roared, clutching at his foot.

"Baby!" she shot over her shoulder as she raced from the room and began ripping the lounge apart.

Ichigo grumbled his way after her.

"You're not going to find it," he insisted.

"Oh yeah? You're not that smart."

"Don't have to be smart, Rukia. Just gotta know you."

Grudgingly, Rukia had to concede that if there was one thing Ichigo did know, it was her. Not that she was a thing.

"I'm not saying yes until you give me the ring."

"I'm not giving you the ring until you say yes."

"I'll find it."

"You won't."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Wanna bet?"

He looked amused. "You serious?"

"I'm always serious."

"Yeah, I know. Got a right stick up your—"

"Are we on or not?" she interrupted, impatient.

He paused. "Alright then."

"Good. So. If I find the ring—"

"You're not going to find it."

"Shut up. If I find the ring – today – I get to keep it. We don't bother with any formal announcements and elope tomorrow."

He choked. "Tomorrow?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who wants to get married so bad."

There was an odd light in his eyes, one she seldom saw.

"Are you…disappointed?" she asked incredulously. "About doing this fast?"

He folded his arms – chest still bare – and avoided her gaze. "What do I get when you don't find it?"

"When?"

"You're not going to find it."

She narrowed her eyes. "Watch me, Kurosaki."

"What do I get?" he persisted.

"The same, of course."

It was his turn to look incredulous. "The same? Then you win either way!"

"So do you," she countered, although after that odd look before, she wasn't so sure. "You hate ceremony, remember?"

"Well, yeah. But I l-love you. Stupid cow." He blushed a brilliant red and coughed. Idiot.

But still, it was pretty cute the way he – "Bastard! Don't call me names!"

"Hypocrite!"

She smirked. "What are you going to do about it?"

Ichigo glared. "Why do you want to elope so bad anyway?"

"Considering Rangiku and Nii-sama have been through, why _don't _you?"

He scuffed his foot along the ground and muttered something unintelligible.

"What?"

"Don't worry about it. But if I win and you don't find the ring, we do this my way. Deal?"

Her eyes narrowed once again. "You're on."

They shook on it.

That irritating grin crossed his lips again. "You're not going to find it."

xXx

The Hunt was not going well. So far Rukia had collected smirks, congratulations and the odd raised eyebrow, but no ring. Kiyone had taken one look at her after she'd asked and burst out laughing.

"Oh! Oh, this is too fantastic. I have to tell Ukitake-taichō," the third-seat gasped before laughing again.

Rukia looked on sourly. "I'm glad someone's amused. Do you know where it is?"

"Ukitake-taichō! Ukitake-taichō, come here, you have to see this!" She turned back to Rukia. "Hmm? Oh yes, I know where it is."

"Really?" Success! "Where? _Where?_"

"Oh, I can't tell you that."

"_What?_"

Ukitake-taichō came into the room at a run. "What, what is it?"

Kotetsu Kiyone; one of the few people Ukitake would sacrifice all dignity for.

"Kurosaki-san proposed, in a round-about sort of way, only Rukia won't say yes until he gives her the ring and he won't give her the ring until she says yes." Kiyone took a breath, eyes sparkling. "But that's not it. Now they have a bet going to see who's in charge of the wedding plan and Rukia has to find the ring today if she wants to win."

Ukitake looked amused, but there was a faint bewildered tinge to it. "But the ring—" He buckled slightly as Kiyone's elbow got him in the gut.

"Don't tell her!"

Kotetsu Kiyone; one of the few people Ukitake would withhold information from his vice-captain for.

Once again, Rukia narrowed her eyes. She seemed to be doing a lot of that today. "I am going to give you so much paperwork, Kotetsu."

"It's worth it to see you so flustered," the third seat declared.

Ukitake started to chuckle, but the laughter quickly turned into a hacking cough. Rukia started forward but Kiyone, of course, was already there.

"It's fine, Kiyone," Ukitake murmured, coughing again. "Truly."

"You should have let Kyōraku-taichō support you with the senkaimon today," Kiyone chided. "You don't have to do everything on your own, Jyuushirō."

The third seat froze and so did Ukitake. Rukia looked on helplessly as the awkwardness became nigh unbearable. What with the excitement of the day and the resolving of one of the Seireitei's more tragic love stories, she had forgotten that the _most_ tragic one still continued.

"My apologies, Ukitake-taichō," Kiyone said softly, eyes downcast. "I had no intention of being dis—"

"I know, Kotetsu-san." Ukitake's voice was gentle, if distant. He avoided the other woman's eyes as they suddenly filled with badly hidden tears.

"If I may be excused?" she asked, voice near inaudible.

"By all means." He refused to look at her.

She fled.

"Taichō—"

"Perhaps Hinamori-fukutaichō will have an idea as to where Ichigo has hidden your ring, Rukia?"

It was very polite, but a dismissal nonetheless. Rukia left, calling her Captain ten kinds of idiot in her head. By the look on his face, he heard her anyway.

Kotetsu Kiyone; the love of Ukitake's life.

xXx

"I'm sorry, Rukia," Momo said between giggles. "But Ichigo-taichō threatened to do the paperwork if I told you anything."

"Threatened to _do_ the paperwork?"

"He can recite Shakespeare off by heart, yet can't get his head around the difference between a five-one-three and a five-one-three-bee," she replied, a certain note of fondness to her voice.

Both women paused to shudder at the mention of the dreaded 513B.

"I'm sorry, Rukia, but I really can't help. The Division can't handle the stress such a mix-up would cause."

A throat was cleared from behind her, but Rukia refused to admit that she had jumped. Because she hadn't.

"Trying to subvert my fukutaoichō, Rukia?"

"Do you even know what subvert means?" she snapped, not bothering to turn and look at Ichigo.

"Oh, well, the world knows I'm not the hardest person to subvert, but the threat of you messing with my paperwork, taichō, seems to have done the trick," Momo teased.

A woman less secure in her relationship might have been worried at the tone of voice in which Momo was speaking to Ichigo, but Rukia knew better. The two _were _close, as every captain and vice-captain should be. Momo, having been Acting-Captain for nearly eighteen years, knew the ins and outs of the job and could help him out in ways even Rukia couldn't; as for Ichigo, he gave her the support she needed to feel strong about herself, the support that Momo so desperately needed.

For whatever reason now, though, her self-deprecating tone indicated that she was feeling guilty. It was an irritating habit of hers that many of her friends had tried to rid her of. Rukia gave Ichigo a pointed glare that even he could understand as 'Get the hell out'.

"You're not going to find it," he whispered as he passed her.

"Oh shut _up_."

Momo gave Rukia a questioning look and shuffled a tad nervously as the fusuma slid shut.

"What's worrying you, Momo?" Rukia asked bluntly.

"E-eh? Nothing!"

"Don't lie, you're as bad at it as I am." That was a lie. Momo was generally a very good liar, but Rukia had caught her off guard. "I'm no Rangiku, but I bet even the idiot saw that something is bothering you."

Involuntarily the other woman's eyes flickered to the door and back. She opened her mouth to say something when a curious change came over her face, almost as if someone had reminded her of something amazing that she'd forgotten. Her mouth clicked shut.

"Momo?"

"It's fine. No, really," the other vice-captain added at the disbelieving look on Rukia's face "This…this is something that I have to work out on my own."

This was the dangerous point. It was here that people like Momo started to lie, trying to brush off their own problems so others didn't worry about them. Rangiku was much the same, although her bright and bubbly personality hid it much better than Momo's melancholy turn of mind.

However, this time there was something in the tone of the other woman's voice, the look on her face that convinced Rukia to drop the subject. It was, she decided, entirely possible that her friends could solve their problems on their own.

She sighed and glanced out the window. "It's getting dark and I still haven't found my ring."

Momo looked relieved at the change of subject, and the mischievous glint entered her eye again. "I know where you can go."

"Really? But what about—"

"Oh, I'm not going to tell you where the ring is," she corrected before the words were even out of Rukia's mouth. She wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Go here."

Rukia glanced dubiously down at the note. "But this is just Rangiku's hospital room number."

Momo grinned. "Exactly."

xXx

Technically visiting hours were over, but that was the joy of being a vice-captain. Unohana and Isane must have been tending an emergency because neither one of them were wandering around the wards like they normally did.

Rukia hesitated outside the door to Rangiku's room. Her brother was, after all, in the room as well and the world knew how he felt about her relationship with Ichigo.

Except that Ichigo, being the son of Isshin, was no commoner. He was also a Captain now, and he was _dead._ Byakuya didn't have a leg to stand on.

Not that that had ever mattered before.

"Enter, Rukia. It is unseemly for a Kuchiki to dawdle."

She rolled her eyes, but nonetheless slid the fusuma open and stepped inside.

The first thing she noticed was that they were still holding hands, despite Rangiku being asleep. She grinned. Cute.

"Will she not let you go, or are you actually being sentimental, Nii-sama?" Rukia teased. Their relationship had grown, particularly over the last five years, to the point where she felt comfortable doing so.

"I have no wish to wake her," Byakuya replied softly, neatly sidestepping the question.

She noted the absence of her premature niece and frowned. "Where's Maiko?"

"She…was having trouble breathing. They took her away an hour are so ago," he told her, a certain tightness around the eyes belying his calm tone.

"Oh, Nii-sama." What else could she say? Her brother loved so seldom that when he did, it consumed him. She couldn't imagine what it had to be like for him today, with his family having betrayed him, the woman he loved more than the world on death's edge and his daughter born a month before she was due. "I thought Unohana-taichō said—"

"There were unforeseen complications." His voice was flat. "Thankfully, Rangiku was asleep at the time." A pained look crossed his face and he closed his eyes. Startled at this show of feeling from her normally stoic brother, Rukia realised he was on the edge of emotional exhaustion. "She has been caused too much pain this day."

Rangiku jerked suddenly in her sleep and Byakuya's attention was immediately diverted. He couldn't move very fast, a result of having given almost his entire life-force to his love in order to keep her alive, but that didn't stop him. Of course, his momentary panic was all rather redundant as Rangiku snored a little and settled back into sleep almost immediately.

Nonetheless, this whole show of tenderness on the part of her brother brought a lump to her throat, and Rukia was probably the least sentimental woman alive. That image of Byakuya collapsed next to a brokenly sobbing Rangiku flashed into her head again. In the end, she hadn't been much help to the rescue party, not with kidō experts like Nanao and Momo there to lend Isane a hand. Rukia hadn't known enough about healing to even pass her strength on.

"Is Maiko…likely to recover?"

She berated herself immediately for being so blunt, but the words were out there now.

"She has been moved to Intensive Care. Unohana-taichō and Isane-fukutaichō are monitoring her personally." With so few women able to get pregnant and even less able to deliver a healthy baby, children were precious in the Seireitei. "If only I had—"

"Ah, hell. I knew it was coming. All right, you idiot, that's enough of that."

Rukia leapt about a foot in the air and even Byakuya flinched slightly as Rangiku struggled weakly into a sitting position, very obviously awake.

Byakuya sighed, even as Rukia gaped a little. "I suppose I should have known."

"Don't blame yourself for that as well," the blonde sighed, giving up on sitting up and groping around for the button to raise her bed up. Byakuya, however, was there already. Her eyes were baggy and her face drawn, but when she smiled at him, it all fell away. "I'm an expert at faking sleep anyway."

"Why—"

"Because you do the guilt thing so well, Byakuya. I was thinking maybe we could ignore the whole thing if you thought I didn't know."

"You're not worried?" Rukia blurted.

Byakuya looked at her with an expression as close to a glare as his face could get, and Rangiku's mouth tightened for a brief second. Rukia instantly felt guilty.

She shouldn't have come. These two had their own problems to sort out, between them, with the family and facing life in general. While both of them were seen as strong individuals by the general public, Rukia knew just how fragile they were.

"Oh, now she's doing it too." Rangiku made an attempt to throw her hands up in the air, but one of them was still attached to Byakuya and the other, Rukia noticed, was wrapped in gauze up to the elbow. The blonde grimaced and in a quieter voice continued. "It's fine, Rukia. Of course I'm worried about Maiko. But I trust Unohana and Isane. And…they said that she was strong, for a premature baby." A tenuous smile crept across her face. "Have you seen her? She's so beautiful."

Personally Rukia thought that baby Maiko looked like every other baby she'd seen, except smaller, more wrinkled and balder. Although her eyes, the one time she had seen them open, were the most beautiful crystal blue Rukia had ever seen. Regardless, she smiled back at the new mother and nodded her agreement.

"Anyway! How are you? I heard you were involved in our rescue party – hope we didn't put you out or anything." The sparkling in Rangiku's eyes – the same pale blue as her daughter's – indicated that she knew something, but Rukia was certain that the people she'd been asking about her ring were either too busy to drop in on Rangiku or too intimidated by Byakuya.

"So, when's the wedding?"

Rukia gaped.

"I'm a little surprised you said yes so soon, actually. Byakuya told me that Ichigo went and asked for his blessing a few days ago, but I was expecting at _least_ half the Seireitei to go up in flames before you agreed. Hey, we can have a double wedding!"

Things were moving a little too fast for Rukia. "Double…wedding?"

Byakuya evidently decided to take pity on her. "Myself and Rangiku are engaged as of this afternoon."

Rukia grinned, distracted, as Rangiku openly mocked Byakuya's formal mode of speaking, mimicking his tone with disturbing accuracy.

"That's fantastic. I am glad the two of you managed to sort that out. But, uh…Rangiku?How was it you knew about Ichigo's pro—" A sudden thought struck her. "Nii-sama? He asked for your blessing? And you _gave_ it?"

"In the understanding that the two of you would not elope. Of course, given recent events with the family, you would have my full consent if you wanted to do so anyway. But…I would still wish to witness my sister marry the man she loves, as opposed to simply hear about it."

"Isn't he sweet?" Rangiku gave her lover – fiancée – a fond look before turning back to his mildly pole-axed sister. "And Rukia, you're wearing a ring on the appropriate finger. It's not hard to figure it out from there." She shifted around a little, then tugged on Byakuya's hand to get him to raise her bed up a little further. "You know, he doesn't have such bad taste after all."

Suddenly it all made horrible sense.

"There's a ring."

It was Rangiku's turn to blink. "Yes."

"On my finger."

"That's generally where they go."

"Oh, I am going to _kill_ him."

"For putting a ring on your finger?"

But Rukia was already heading for the door.

"Rukia? Rukia! Come back here! You can't leave me hanging like this when I can't run after you!"

xXx

He had hidden the ring _on her finger_. And she hadn't even noticed, because it felt so damn right being there. She had even _looked_ at it once or twice without seeing it!

"Boiling pitch," she muttered as she stormed through the Seireitei. "Or dismemberment. Wait, no! _Paperwork_."

"Geez, couldn't you just find a nice poison or something?"

"The idea is to hurt you, Ichigo, not send you to sl – _you_."

He was expecting the punch. They'd been together too long for him to not know how she would have reacted – which led her to wonder why he'd done it in the first place even as she followed up the punch with a high kick.

He laughed, leaping back. "Short-ass! You know your leg can't reach that high – shit! Woman, what is your problem?"

This last outburst was caused by her leaping into the air and nailing him in the face for the second time that day. "You arsehole!"

"You wanted the ring, you got the ring! Not my fault you didn't notice!" His elbows flew up and his forearms moved to fend off her blows.

"I went through half of the goddamn Seireitei asking people where it was!"

He blinked, then started to laugh. "You really went and asked everyone? With the ring right there on your finger like that?"

She started to hit harder.

"Hey, hey, hey! No need to – how do you even have this much energy left anyway?"

"Pure rage," she ground out in response, getting him in the gut. She might have stopped then if she hadn't known that he had _let _her land that hit.

"You're the one who thought I hid the thing! It was on your finger even before you left with the rescue party."

Rukia faltered. Considering she was in mid-air as she did so, it wasn't her smartest move. He grabbed her foot and stopped her from over-compensating by yanking on it, reversing her direction and sending her crashing down to earth.

He caught her, of course. The thought hadn't crossed her mind that he wouldn't.

"What?" she finally managed to get out as she slammed into his chest – shamefully clothed now – and his arms wrapped automatically around her.

"Damn, you really are short," he murmured, looking down at her. She hit him on the shoulder and he grinned.

"What's going on?" some young recruit asked from the background.

"Hmm? Oh, don't worry about it. That's just Kurosaki-san and Kuchiki-fukutaichō beating the crap out of each other. You get used to it."

Both Rukia and Ichigo turned to glare at the two shinigami walking past. The younger one jumped slightly, but the other just rolled his eyes and waved as they walked on.

Rukia turned back to her lover. "_What?_" she persisted, managing to convince herself that no, that was not a faint tinge of whine in her voice.

He blushed suddenly – he was doing that a lot this day – and wouldn't meet her eyes.

Rukia pursed her lips. "Look at me." He wouldn't, so she hit him on the shoulder again. "_Look _at me. Geez, you're such a child."

He looked at her then, anger burning hot in his eyes as he opened his mouth to shoot something cutting back in return.

She grinned. "Got ya."

"Bitch."

"Bastard."

"Stupid cow."

"_Fatty_." It was the one insult he couldn't stand.

"Oh, we're not going through this again," he growled. "What the hell do you want, Rukia?"

There seemed to be a double layer to the question. She frowned slightly, still leaning against his chest – not that she had much choice, the way he had pulled her tight to him.

"Why did you put the ring on my finger, Ichigo?" she asked softly. "When I hadn't said yes and you wanted me to so bad?"

Ichigo looked at the ground again, but she hit his shoulder for a third time to direct his face back at hers.

"You wanted it," he said eventually.

"That's it? You put it on my finger because I _wanted _it? You never do stuff like that!"

"That's because this is important!" he yelled.

Rukia blinked, utterly confused. He saw it, of course, and a hand left her waist to pinch the bridge of his nose.

She could see it on his face, the way he was searching for a place to start. To start on what, she didn't know, but she had a feeling an interruption wouldn't be appreciated.

"We don't…argue about important shit," was what he finally came up with, hand anchoring at her waist again. "You know? We fight all the time, but it's always about stupid crap that doesn't matter. This…it does matter."

Rukia looked at her hand, spread out and contrasted against the black of Ichigo's uniform. The ring sparkled there on the appropriate finger and she had to agree with Rangiku – in this at least, her lover did have good taste. It was small and practical, so she wouldn't have to worry about it in battle. White gold and diamond, with the centre jewel a—

"Blue diamond? How on earth did you manage to afford a blue diamond?" she whispered. "You haven't been a Captain for that long."

He coughed, _again_. "I had it custom made," he said quietly. "I…well, I thought anything too big would look stupid, but I didn't want you thinking I hadn't put any effort into it. Byakuya had the stone knocked out of one of your family heirlooms and offered it to me." He frowned slightly. "Dunno how he knew I was having trouble with it though."

"It's Nii-sama," Rukia pointed out absently. "You really put a hell of a lot of thought into this, didn't you?"

He shrugged, but he was blushing again. She was starting to worry about where all that blood was coming from when it rose to his face like that. "It's important."

"So…that weird look on your face when I said I wanted to elope? You don't want to do it?"

"Your brother would castrate me, probably."

"That part's mine. He can't have it."

He rolled his eyes, but looked a little less nervous.

"But tell me seriously. You don't want to elope?"

"Be serious? After that comment?"

"_Ichigo…_" Her hands clenched in his uniform.

He got that look that meant he wanted to look away again, so she unclenched one of her fists and grabbed his chin.

"Alright. Alright! You want the truth?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell me I can't handle it?"

"Would you stop trying to be funny? You're the one who wanted me to be freaking serious." He sighed. "No, I don't want to elope."

Well, she'd pretty much figured that out for herself, but it was always good to have these things confirmed. It didn't stop her from being any less bewildered, however. "But…why? Or, why not?"

"Because I'm so damn sick of being judged for this!"

Okay, so that didn't help clear matters up any, and he must have read it in her face because he sighed again and scratched the back of his head.

"You know, part of the reason Tōshirō kept leaving Karin was because he didn't want what happened to us to happen to them. I mean, the entire fucking Seireitei laid bets on us at one point or another, saying that we weren't going to last—"

"Rangiku made a killing betting for us, though," she interjected.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking about serious shit like this, Rukia," he growled. "What I'm getting at is that people have been trying for years to make us feel like we should be ashamed of being in love with each other."

In his frustration, it seemed he'd forgotten to stutter over the word.

"And if we elope it's like saying that they win. That we're doing something wrong here and—" He broke off, suddenly out of words. "Yeah."

"So you're going to let what they think push you into a huge ceremony that you'd hate every minute of?"

"No! Jeez, Rukia, it's not like there's only the two extremes. We don't have to have a huge freakin' Kuchiki wedding with everyone in the Seireitei invited, and we don't have to elope."

She hadn't quite thought of it that way.

"Why did _you_ want to elope so bad anyway?"

Oops. Caught out. Rukia went to look at the ground and cursed softly as his calloused hand left her waist again to drag her head up. The irritatingly soft look in those warm brown eyes of his said he'd already figured it out.

"Because what they say gets to me," she said quietly, squirming slightly. She hated saying this to face, admitting her weakness. "What they say has always gotten to me, and I can't stand being so _weak_ about it, but…" She paused, and changed tack. "I don't really want to elope."

"I figured."

"But I don't…I mean…" Why were there suddenly no words to explain what she needed to get out?

"Jeez, what kind of idiots do they let into Kuchiki weddings, if it's got you this scared?"

"I'm not scared!" she flared. She would have punched him, but they were too close for her to get any power behind it.

"Oh yeah?" he taunted, eyes sparkling. She knew what he was doing, like she knew all of his tactics, but knowing it didn't stop it from working. "So what would you call it then? Terrified?"

"I'm not scared!" she insisted, ignoring the fact that both of them knew it was a lie.

"So prove it."

Oh, bastard._ Bastard._ She scrabbled around for an excuse, not really knowing why she was bothering. She'd already admitted that she didn't want to elope.

"I won the bet!" she blurted.

He looked confused. "What bet?"

"The bet! The bet to find the ring!"

Confusion melted into amusement. "That's your answer."

"Yes."

"You won the bet."

"Yes!"

"But you _didn't_ win the bet."

She spluttered, aware of how supremely undignified it was and not caring. "I did too!"

"No, you didn't." His hands were at her waist again, pulling her even closer. "You said if you found the ring. You didn't find it, you had it found for you. Big difference. Which means—" His head dipped the near foot distance between them. "I win."

Rukia shivered despite herself at his tone of voice. He was doing that husky thing again that made her melt a little inside. "But—"

"I'd say that quite effectively gives me control over this wedding, wouldn't you?"

Oh. _Oh_. She saw what he was going for now. Giving her a dignified way to bow out.

She was thankful, of course, but if they were going to have a proper wedding, she really didn't want him in charge.

And, if she were to be _really_ honest, Rukia would admit that maybe it was time to stop relying on Ichigo to give her a dignified way to bow out of things.

"I don't think so," she declared, twisting out of his grasp.

The look of surprise on his face at both her words and at finding her no longer in his arms was delicious. She tossed an impish little look over her shoulder as she started to saunter away, something she'd learned from Rangiku a long time before. "Of course, you're welcome to convince me otherwise."

He caught on quick, she'd give him that. Ichigo caught up and fell into step with her, smirking slightly. "You know," he remarked conversationally as they approached the general housing district. "The last time I tried to convince you of something, I think we got interrupted."

Rukia glanced down at the ring and smiled. It really was gorgeous.

"You know, I think we might have," she replied guilelessly as he opened the door to their house for her, ever the gentlemen.

Of course, once they were inside, it was another matter. Gentlemen generally didn't pin ladies to the wall and give them toe-curling kisses. And ladies generally didn't kiss back.

"We'd better fix that then," he murmured, stumbling backwards towards the couch.

"Ichigo?"

"Hmm?"

"Shut up."

xXx

Nine weeks later, Rukia woke up and promptly _threw_ up. She mentioned it in passing to Rangiku (who was out of hospital and playing office soccer with her taichō's son in lieu of actual work), who paused in the process of burping a perfectly healthy Maiko, and burst out laughing.

xXx

_I do hope you managed to figure out what happened from there, lol. I think you'll remember that nine weeks were also mentioned wh__en Rangiku was throwing up in The Stage…_

_Anyway, Stef, I hope you like this, and I hope the rest of you lovely readers enjoyed it too. I will not be making this into a multi-chapter, before you ask, and I don't know when I'll get started on Truth Or Dare, the Shuuhei/Momo fic, but probably soon._

_**Also, if I owe you a piece of writing please tell me. With the exception of Philyra, I'm afraid I've forgotten.**_


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